


A Spark of Adoration

by mx_tunes



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Bullying, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Girls in Love, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mild Angst, No Smut, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Probably cringe, Reader is Ben Hanscom’s twin sister, Summer Love, fight me, lesbians in love, plus size reader, teenagers in love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:00:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23072107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mx_tunes/pseuds/mx_tunes
Summary: Her red hair burned like rays of the sun,I see her and I am lit,for she is beautiful beyond compare,the girl with blue eyes and fire for hair.-Christy Ann MartineWhen you and your twin brother, Ben, move to Derry, you save a small gang of Losers from The Bowers' Gang on the last day of school. You all slowly become friends, and make a few more on the way, but what happens when you have to defeat a killer clown from outer space? Or when you realize you might like girls in a violently homophobic town?
Relationships: Beverly Marsh/Reader, Bill Denbrough/Ben Hanscom, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Mike Hanlon/Stanley Uris
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

I quickly zipped through the crowded halls of Derry Junior High School in search of the nearest bathroom. I could feel the unpleasant sensation of blood leaking. Why hadn't I worn a tampon like mom suggested? As I quickly shuffled up the stairs, I accidentally bumped the shoulder of a skinny, curly haired boy with a Yarmulke placed atop his head.

"S-sorry." I mumbled out, my increasing anxiety levels getting the better of me. I reached the top of the steps, and I saw the hallway leading to the girls bathroom. Hallelujah, right? As I walked inside, the first thing I noticed was the smell of smoke. Then I saw the lovely Gretta Keene and her companions. As much as I would love to avoid her like the plague right now, I really needed to get into a stall.

"Which is it, Greta?" An unfamiliar voice came from the first stall. "Am I a slut or a little shit? Make up your mind." She grumbled. I let out a small snicker. Greta whipped her head towards me, and I quickly realized my error as my eyes grew wide with fear.

"You think this is funny?" She said as a statement more of a question. I pursued my lips together.

"Mmm mmm. Nope." I said as I shook my head 'no.' She smiled a wicked smile, and turned her head back to the stall.

"You hear that, slut? Your girlfriend thinks you're funny." She looked up at the other girl who was standing on a toilet with a trash bag in her hand, then nodded. "You're trash. We just wanted to remind you," With that, the girl dumped out the contents of the trash bag into the stall. I gagged. I could smell it. "At least now you'll smell better. Have a nice summer, Beaver-ly." Greta turned towards me, and I just kind of awkwardly stood there with my hand over my mouth in disgust. She harshly bumped into my shoulder. What was the point of doing that? Not only does it hurt the person you're doing it to, but it hurts you. And it's just immature! Anywho, I walked over to the stall.

"Uhm... they're gone now," I said quietly to the person in the stall. "It's just me." I said. I heard the girl shuffling around, and then stand up. I backed up over to the sinks as she opened the door. The second I saw her, my heart skipped a beat when I realized the girl I had been talking to was Beverly Marsh. That should have been obvious with the nickname Greta had given her.

"You okay there? You're drooling." The redhead joked as I stared at her. I quickly snapped out of my trance and shook my head.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm great. Uh, what about you?" I asked awkwardly. She chuckled, and a swarm of butterflies erupted in my stomach. That damn smile always gave me a heart attack. It was so beautiful.

"I'm... pretty okay." She replied as she washed her hands to get the trash junk off. I watched her for some strange reason, then she turned to me. "You're (Y/N), right?" She asked, a light smile across her features. If I wasn't blushing before, I definitely was now. I nodded.

"Yup, and you're Beverly. We had Art together." I said to her. We said goodbye to each other, and I watched her go. For a few moments, I just stood by the sinks before remembering why I came in here.

***

After I finished what I needed to do, I made my way out the front doors. The hot Summer air was mildly unpleasant, but not unwelcome. It was a nice change from the bitter cold winter. I looked around, and saw a few boys emptying out their bags into a trash bin. Without really thinking, I walked over to the quartet.

"Beats spending it inside of your mother." I heard as I slung my bag over my shoulder, and chucked the whole thing into the trash (except for the year book, which I had previously removed). It was getting old, and the pocket on the right had torn out. Not to mention, there was a lovely little stain on the bottom from when my lunchbox exploded inside of it.

"You're throwing away the whole thing?" A boy in a pink shirt asked me. I turned to him and nodded.

"Yeah. It's pretty old. I've had it for a while, and it was cheap, so..." I trailed off. They seem to understand.

"Guys, we have the b-b-b-barrens." A boy in a green and white shirt said.

Oh. That's coolio. Go back to your conversation. I don't mind.

I think his name was Bill. I've heard the nickname 'Stuttering Bill' float around the school.

"Betty Ripsom's mom," The kid in the pink shirt said. I looked up to see a woman in a white and grey patterned sundress. Her eyes looked pink from crying, and she had her hands folded together as if she was praying. I felt bad for the woman.

"Is she really expecting to see her come out of that school?" The kid with the Yarmulke asked.

"I don't know. As if Betty Ripsom's been hiding in Home Ec. for the last few weeks." The pink-shirted kid replied.

"Do you think they'll actually find her?" The Jewish kid asked. I was about to reply, but was quickly cut off.

"Sure... in a ditch. All decomposed, covered in worms and maggots, smelling like Eddie's mom's underwear." The kid with the thick glasses said. He gestured to the short kid, so I assumed his name was Eddie. Eddie made a face at the comment.

"Shut up. That's freaking disgusting." Eddie said.

"She's not dead. She's m-m-missing." Bill said. The tension in the air seemed to increase.

"Sorry, Bill. She's missing." He said as he adjusted his glasses. I looked back over to the mother.

"I can't imagine losing a child. Just think of how she must feel..." I said as I clutched the yearbook to my chest. I could literally feel the tension getting worse by the second. "Well, sorry for being such a Debby Downer. I'll... see you guys around." I said. They waved to me before I started walking away. I was supposed to meet up with my brother by the back exits. I was just a little past the curfew sign when I heard a grunt come from behind me. I turned around to see the curly haired kid and the glasses one on the ground. Then I saw some bitch ass grab the Yarmulke off the curly haired kid's head.

"Give it back!" He shouted at him, but he was too late. The older teen chucked it into the window of a moving bus. Being the smart child I am, I ran over to the lanky boy, and shoved him as hard as I could. He stumbled, but never fell. With the extra weight, I had a mild advantage over the skinny boy.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I yelled at him. For a moment, he looked taken aback. Then he let out a maniacal giggle that made me flinch. Some kid with a mullet stalked towards me. These guys can't be serious... can they? I mean, I've heard of the notorious Bowers' Gang, but I thought it was all overdramatized or something. The lanky boy shoved me to the ground, and the yearbook flew from my hands. I honestly thought my tailbone broke. It hurt so _freakin'_ much. The three boys loomed over me.

"You s-s-s-suck, Bowers!" Bill shouted at them. Before my final moments on this Earth, the three boys slowly turned back towards Bill.

"You _suh-suh-suh-suh-suh-suh-_ say something? _Buh-Buh-Buh-Buh-Buh-_ Billy?" The older teen mocked him as he walked towards him. The curly haired kid and the glasses kid quickly helped me up. "You got a free ride this year because of your little brother... ride's over, Denbrough." Before mullet-head could do anything, we heard some radio chatter. We turned to see a police man watching his every move. Henry lowered his voice. "This Summer's gonna be a hurt train... for you and your faggot friends." With that, he licked his hand and wiped it across Bill's cheek.

_Disgusting._

Then the trio walked over to this trashy blue Trans Am, and got in. The three younger boys and I approached Bill, glaring at the mullet-headed dickwad.

"I wish he'd go missing." Glasses kid said, bluntly.

"He's probably the one doing it." Eddie replied, then looked to the side as if he shouldn't have said that. I then took a small package of tissues out of my pocket, and offered one to Bill. He looked at it in confusion.

"For your cheek." I replied. He then raised his eyebrows in realization, and took it.

"Th-thanks..." he mumbled.

"Yeah, and thanks for sticking up for us. Even though it was stupid." The curly haired kid said. I chuckled softly.

"No problem, uhm..." I replied in a way for him to tell me his name.

"Stanley." He said. I nodded then turned my head to the glasses kid.

"Richie Tozier's the name," he dramatically stuck his hand out for me to shake. "and doing voices is my game." He said the last part in a poor British accent. Nonetheless, I smiled at him.

"Nice. And I'm assuming you're Eddie, and you're Bill?" I said as I pointed at them each. They nodded.

"You're (Y/N) Hanscom, right?" Eddie asked. I nodded, then looked down at my watch.

"Shit!" I cursed under my breath.

"W-What’s wrong?" Bill asked. I looked back up at him.

"Oh, I was supposed to meet up with my brother. I've gotta go. It was nice meeting you!" I said as I started walking away.

"Wait!" Richie shouted. I looked back. "Meet us at Eddie Spaghetti's place tomorrow around 11:00! It's 4962, Pebble Drive! Think you can find it?" He asked.

"Yes! Thank you!" I shouted as I grabbed my yearbook from under a tree, and ran off.

***

Behind the school, I saw my brother talking to a certain red haired someone. My heart skipped a few beats as I approached.

"New Kids on the Block." I heard her say to Ben as she removed his headphones from over her ears.

"H-hey, Beverly." I said.   
_Jeez. Alright, Bill._ I internally made fun of myself for stuttering. She turned to face me, and it felt like it happened in slow motion. She was grinning a beautifully crooked smile. I couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Hey, (Y/N)." She said. I waved at her.

"Hi, Ben. Ready to head home?" I asked him. He barely seemed to be focused on the question, but more on... Beverly. His cheeks were a light pink, and he had a cute little smile playing across his lips.

Oh, no.

"You two are brother and sister?" She asked. We glanced at each other. We were literally twins. Yes, we're fraternal twins... but still twins! He looks more like mom while I look like dad. Gosh, I miss dad...

"Nope, not at all." I replied sarcastically while still smiling at her.

"Okay, smart ass," She jokingly rolled her eyes. I just smiled. "Wait, you guys are the New Kids, right? Now I get it..." she joked. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"There's nothing to get." Ben said.

"I'm just messing with you," She chuckled as she placed Ben's headphones on top of his head. "I'm Beverly Marsh, by the way." She said to my brother. I felt a twinge if... jealousy? Yeah. That's what I felt for some reason.

"Yeah. I... I know that, 'cause we're in the same class. Social Studies. You were..." Ben trailed off as he looked into her eyes. He quickly snapped out of his trance. "I'm Ben, and this is my sister, (Y/N). But, pretty much everybody just calls us—."

"The New Kids," Beverly cut him off. "Well, guys. There are worse things to be called. Let me sign these." The redhead swiftly stole the yearbook from my hands and the one in Ben's backpack. When she opened them, she must have noticed that no one signed them. She then uncapped a blue pen, and signed them. Her name with three little hearts doodled underneath. I practically swooned.

I glanced over at Ben to see him in another trance. It's cute that he likes her. Beverly then handed them back to us.

"Stay cool, Ben from Soc. class," Beverly turned to me, and glanced up and down with a light smile on her lips. I felt my face heat up. "Maybe I'll see you over the Summer." I quickly nodded.

"Uhm... yeah. That would be great, Beverly." I responded as I watched her start to walk away.

"Hang tough, New Kids on the Block!" She called back as she started walking across the field. I saw my brother smile; something I hadn't seen him really do since we moved here.

"Please Don't Go, Girl!" He shouted to her. She kept waking. "That's... that's another name of a... New Kids on the Block... song..." he trailed off as he realized she couldn't hear him.

"You totally like her." I said to him as I nudged his shoulder. He looked back at me, alarm written all over his face.

"What? No I do not!" He claimed. I smirked at him.

  
“Hey, it’s cute that you’ve finally found someone else to nerd out with about that band you like.” I said to him as I grabbed my bike.

”Beverly’s not a nerd.” Ben defended her. All I could do was smile.

”Trust me, I know.” I said under my breath as we began riding towards home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Y/N) goes to the sewers with the boys, and just starts to understand how bad this town really is.

The next day, I took a miniature map of Derry from Ben's bedroom. It turns out Pebble Drive was only three streets down from mine. I guess that's a perk of living in a small town; everywhere is so close.

"Hey, (Y/N), wanna go to the Library?" Ben asked as I was putting my shoes on. I stood up to face him.

"I would, Benny Boy, but I, uh, actually got invited to hang out with a few kids from school." I told him. His face seemed to drop a bit when I said this.

"Oh... who?" He asked.

"Just some kids... y'know the ones who get referred to as the Losers?" I asked him. He nodded. "I'm gonna hang out with them. Speaking of which, here's your map back. I kind of took it to find an address." I told him as I handed back the folded map.

"So you're gonna be hanging out with a bunch of teenage boys?" He asked me as he crossed his arms. I smirked at his over protectiveness.

"Yeah, but you've got no reason to worry. They're pretty chill," I told him. I then glanced up at the clock on the wall. 10:53AM. "I've actually gotta go. I'll be back later, okay? Give mom a hug for me." I said.

"Uhm, okay... See you, (Y/N)." He said as I walked out the door. I grabbed my bike from the garage, and headed down the street, and took my sweet time getting there. I went past a few streets before turning down Pebble Drive. As I approached the nearing house, I saw Eddie and Bill, and then Richie was just now pulling into the driveway.

"Heya, strangers!" I greeted them. "Where's Stan?" I asked them as I parked my bike. Bill was about to stutter out a response, but Rich the Bitch cut him off.

"You worried about your boyfriend, (Y/N)?" Richie teased. I raised an eyebrow.

"It was just a simple question, my dude." I stated as I walked towards the trio.

"S-S-Stan's just a little l-late." Bill told me. I nodded at him in a way of understanding. We were about to walk into Eddie's house before he stopped me.

"My mom will freak out if I bring a girl inside. Could you wait out here?" He asked me. I raised an eyebrow at him. _Seriously?_ it asked.

"Uh, sure. Yeah." I said as I took a step back. The three entered the house. I just kind of awkwardly stood outside the structure, waiting. After a few moments, I saw something out the corner of my eye. I turned to see Stan coming up the street on his bike.

"Oh, you actually came..." he said. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"Uh, what's that supposed to mean?" I asked as I added a smile at the end to seem like I wasn't offended. His eyebrows shot up, and he looked at me.

"I didn't mean anything bad by that! I just meant that a lot of people think we're... weird, so I just assumed you'd blow us off." He rambled. I guess I kind of got what he was trying to say.

"Hey, I get it. But who cares if you're weird? Everyone is in some way." I tried to reassure him. After that awkward little moment, we just kind of sat in a comfortable silence.

"You want one from me too, Mrs. K?" I heard Richie ask through the screen door, from which I then heard numerous protests from Eddie.

"Sorry, mommy!" Eddie called out into the house before closing the door. He then proceeded to hit Richie in the arm.

"Oh. Hey, Stan the Man," Richie greeted the Jewish boy. "Turns out we're heading to the sewers, instead." He told us.

"What, why?" I asked. The quartet seemed to exchange glances with one another.

"Oh, no reason." Richie replied. Hmm. Coolio. I'm probably gonna get murdered by these children. I was about to decline going, but then I realized this was my only chance to make friends. We got on our bikes, and began riding away from the house. We rode past the Library as Bill yelled _Hi-Ho Silver, AWAAAAY._

***

"That's poison ivy... and that's poison ivy..." Stan said as he pointed at random plants. Eddie whipped his head around at the first mention of the toxic plant.

"W-where? Where's poison ivy?" He asked as he looked around.

"Nowhere," Richie said to him. "Not every fuckin' plant is poison ivy, Stanley." He snipped at the curly haired boy. I smirked at the bickering boys.

"Okay, well I'm starting to get itchy, so..." Eddie began, but was cut off my Richie.

"Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" He asked the shorter boy as he ventured into the sewer.

"Sometimes, yeah." He replied.

"Then you probably have crabs." Richie told him.

"That is so not funny." Eddie said.

"Do you even know what crabs are?" I suddenly asked. Richie looked down into the murky water and didn’t answer. I sighed. "It's a bug that lives in people's pubic hair." I told them.

"Eww." Richie said as a giggle of disgust came from his mouth. I just gave a relaxed shrug as a reply. I was about to follow him in before Stanley grabbed my shoulder and shook his head. I looked at him in confusion.

"Are you guys coming in?" Richie asked.

"Mmm-mmm. That's grey water." Eddie said quickly.

"What the hell is grey water?" Richie asked.

"It's basically... piss and shit! So I'm just telling you!" Eddie said as he aggressively waved his hands about. "You guys are splashing around in... millions of gallons of Derry pee." He said.

"Gross..." I said under my breath. Then Richie picked up a stick and sniffed it.

"What are you— are you serious?" Eddie asked him.

"Doesn't smell like caca to me, señor!" Richie said in a shitty Spanish accent.

"Okay, I-I can literally smell that from here." Eddie said.

"It's probably just your breath wafting back into your face." Richie said, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

"Have you ever heard of a staph infection?!" Eddie asked, clearly irritated.

"Oh, I'll show you a staph infection." Richie taunted in his normal voice. I smiled at the boys. They had clearly known each other, and grew close. The amount of times I wished for a friend like that haunted me.

Richie then picked up some bag with the stick, and tossed it in our direction. The frail boy shrieked as I narrowly dodged it.

"G-guys!" Bill called from deeper inside the tunnel. I saw he was holding up a shoe as he turned toward us. I felt my blood run cold as I looked at the pink sneaker.

"Shit, don't tell me that's..." Stan started as his voice cracked. I could see the fear in his eyes.

"No," Bill began. "G-Georgie wore galoshes." He said.

"Georgie? Who's Georgie?" I asked them. They shared that look again. Some secret they didn't seem to want to tell. And I'm okay with that. We're just strangers.

"Who's sneaker is it?" Eddie asked, completely ignoring me. I saw the two shine a flashlight inside of it.

"It's Betty Ripsom's." Richie said, darkly.

"Oh, shit..." Eddie began, panic written all over his face. "Oh, god. _Oh, fuck!_ I don't like this." He said.

"How do you think Betty feels?" Richie asked. "Running around in these tunnels with only one freakin' shoe?" He said as he hoped on one foot. We all stared at him.

"What if she's still here?" Stan asked. I looked over at him. It seemed as if tears were welling in his eyes, so I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Eddie, come on!" Richie called as he ventured into the tunnel with Bill.

"My mom will have an aneurism, okay? If she finds out we were playing down here," he said as panic rose in his voice. "Bill?" He called as an attempt to persuade him out. He turned back.

"If... if I were Betty Ripsom, I'd want us to find me. G-Georgie, too." He said. The other boys looked down at their feet. I desperately wanted to say something, but I had a feeling that I had no right being involved in this conversation. So I kept my mouth shut.

"What if I don't want to find him?" Eddie asked suddenly. I looked up at him with confusion. "I mean... no offense Bill, but I don't wanna end up like G—," He stopped himself. "I don't wanna go missing either."

"He has a point." Stan stated.

"Y-y-you, too?" Bill asked, his voice full of betrayal.

"It's Summer!" Stan snipped. "We're supposed to be having fun! This isn't fun... this is scary and disgusting." He said. Just then, we heard a large splash from behind us. We all jumped and turned around.

"Ben?!" I shouted as I ran towards him.

"Holy shit! What happened to you?" Richie asked as he came out from the tunnel. He just looked up at us.

"Ben, what happened?" I asked as I helped him up. He didn't answer. "What happened to you?!" He looked like he didn't know what to say as his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Then I hugged him, despite the fact that he was soaked in God-knows-what.

" _Bowers._ " He said quietly. I pulled away.

"Bowers... as in Henry Bowers?" I asked. He quickly nodded. I took a few steps away from my brother. " _This is war, Bowers!! You hear me?! **FUCKING WAR!!!**_ " I screamed into the surrounding trees. Then I realized my stupidity. "Shit, he probably heard me. Get on the bike. _Get on the bike!_ " I whisper-shouted as I pushed my brother out of the water. We quickly hopped on our bikes (Ben on the back of Bill's), and headed toward the Pharmacy. I found it cute how Ben wrapped his arms gently around Bill's waist.

" _Ithinkitsgreatthatwerehelpingthenewkidsbutweneedtothinkofourownsafetyimeanhesbleedingalloverandyouguysknowthattheresanaidsepidemichappeningrightnowaswespeakrightmymomsfriendinnewyorkcitygotitjustbytouchingadirtypoleinthesubwayandadropofaidsbloodgotintohersystemthroughahangnail **AHANGNAIL** youcanamputatelegssandarmsbuthowdoyou **HOWDOYOUAMPUTATEAWAIST** —_" Eddie rambled on and on.

"EDDIE!" I finally snapped. His rambling cut, and he looked up at me.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"That's not how AIDS work." I told him.

"But my mom told me so." He said, panic still audible in his voice.

"Then she lied," I said sounding more aggressive than I meant to. He looked mildly taken aback by my sudden snap. I sighed. "Look, AIDS is a virus that is passed on through contact with infected blood, semen, or vaginal fluids."

"Eww." Richie whined, dramatically. I just rolled my eyes. The boys just looked at me, disgust written all over there faces.

"Richie, wait here. C'mon." Bill instructed as he walked toward the entrance of the Pharmacy.

"I'll be right back. I promise." I said to Ben as I walked away. I felt bad leaving him alone, but I needed to get a few things. As I walked in, I saw Stan, Eddie, and Bill rummaging through the medical supplies. I walked over to the Feminine aisle, and that's when I saw her again. Beverly Marsh. My heart speed up as I approached. She turned her head and I saw her gorgeous smile plaster across her face.

"Hey, stranger." She greeted. God, I couldn't help but blush.

"Hey, Bev... how are ya?" I tried to make conversation as I skimmed through the products with my eyes.

"Fine... what about you?" She asked kind of awkwardly. I just smiled.

"Well, it's that time of the month, so..." I trailed off as I saw the product I typically buy, and grabbed it. "Holy shit! 3.99?" I complained about the price. Beverly gave a soft chuckle at my comment.

"Yeah." She mumbled. I looked back up to her.

"Well, I hope to see you around more. We should hang out. Or not if you don't want to or if you're busy...” I rambled.

"Yeah. That'd be great," she replied. I smiled and waved to her as I started walking away. "Wait!" She called. I quickly turned back around.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Well, uhm..." she began. I took a couple steps toward her.

"What's up?" I whispered.

"How do I know which one to get?" She asked as she looked back over at the pads and tampons.

"First time?" I asked. She nodded. "Well, I would suggest pads since it's your first period, but maybe get a small package of tampons to try out. Only if ya want." I smiled. After I watched her quickly skim over the items, she picked up a box of pads, and we walked over into the next aisle.

" _Shit._ " I said under my breath as I saw Gretta Keene. I quickly turned around and directed Beverly into the next aisle. She froze, and quickly hid the box behind her back when seeing the 3 teenage boys I had previously conversed with. I did the same. We stared at each other as if we were in some sort of epic show down in a Wild West themed movie.

"Y-you okay?" Bill asked.

"We’re fine, what's wrong with you?" She asked them as I turned my head to see Gretta exiting the store. I sighed in relief.

"None of your business." Stan replied quickly.

"Don't be a dick." I said. He glared at me.

"There's a kid outside. Looks like someone killed him." Eddie said.

"We need some s-supplies, but... we don't have enough money." Bill said. Beverly took a quick glance at Mr. Keene before taking my hand, and walking us up to the counter. My stomach erupted with a swarm of butterflies.

"Follow my lead." She whispered to me as she plastered a smile on her face.

"You two ready to check out?" The man asked. We nodded.

"Would you like to go first?" She asked me, sweetly. Too sweet... What is she planning?

"Ladies first!" I said, adding a crappy curtsy to go along with the show. She smiled at me as she stepped closer to the counter, handing the man her items.

"I like your glasses, Mr. Keene," she said suddenly. I looked at her, confusion on my face. "You look _just_ like Clark Kent." She said. _Sure. If Clark Kent was some nasty-ass old dude_. I thought.

"Oh, ho. I don't know about that." He chuckled as he adjusted his glasses.

"You really do." I added on, trying to go along with her.

"Can I try them?" She asked, her voice saccharine sweet.

"I don't see why not." He said, passing them to her. She delicately placed the frames over her face, and looked up at him.

"What do you think?" She asked. He leaned forward. Too close for comfort.

"Well how about that... you look just like Louis Lane." He said. I could see a look of disgust just briefly pass over Beverly's features.

"Really?" She asked.

"Mmm." He replied as a form of reassurance. She then removed them, and harshly handed them back to the man, _accidentally_ knocking over a display of cigarettes.

"Shoot. I'm so sorry." She said to him.

"It's okay." He said, giving her an annoyed side glance. We then looked back to the boys as a signal for them to go. They did, knocking over a few things in the process. There was a stray package of cigarettes on the counter, and Beverly swiftly swiped it. She stuck her index finger of her lips, and gave me a wink. I rolled my eyes and softly chuckled at the girl. We quickly finished paying for our items, and left the pharmacy.

"That's dude's such a creep!" I shouted as we walked down the pavement.

"I know." She said as we walked together.

"Do you have to deal with that all the time? 'Cause if so, I am so sorry. That's just vile." I said to her. She just gave me a sad smile.

"Yeah, it's pretty gross. I'm used to it, though," She told me as she linked her arm with mine. This was nice. Maybe Beverly and I were friends now. Maybe if I'm lucky enough, we could update to Best Friends. "Wanna be friends?" She asked boldly. My face flushed pink, but I could just blame that on the hot weather.

"Mmm... I'll have to check my schedule." I joked, flashing her a smile. She looked up into my eyes and smiled at me.

"You're a dick." She giggled and we just laughed the rest of the way down the sidewalk until we approached Bill. He was standing there with his mouth open.

"Careful there, Billy. You keep your mouth open like that, a bug's gonna fly in." I said as I tapped his chin with my index finger. He immediately closed his mouth, and began digging through his pockets.

"T-thanks..." he said as he pulled out some crumpled cash. Beverly just held up the pack of cigars, and smiled.

"Even Stephen," She said, then took a glance down the alleyway. "Ben from Sosh?" She asked, and removed her arm from mine. I then remembered the person I should have been worried about.

"Shit, Ben." I said under my breath, and then ran to him.

"You have to suck the wound before you apply the bandage. This is 101!" Richie complained.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Eddie said to him, clearly annoyed. Are these two serious? My brother could have been killed, and the two were bickering like some old married couple.

"Are you okay? That looks like it hurts." Beverly said as she approached.

"Oh. No, I'm good," Ben said as he shifted. "I just... fell." He lied.

"Yeah, right into Henry Bowers." Richie blabbed. I rolled my eyes at the boy. A new theme I seem to have developed with these boys.

"Shut it, R-R-Richie." Bill said quietly.

"Why? It's the truth!" He said.

"You sure they got... _The Right Stuff_... to fix you up?" The redhead winked. Oh, a reference I actually got. I had heard that song before. I noticed the little smile grow on my brother's lips.

"Y'know, w-w-we'll take care of him," Bill said, suddenly acting protective. She nodded.

"Maybe I'll see you guys around again." She said looking directly at me.

"Maybe you could come over to our house tomorrow. Mom probably wouldn't mind—" I was saying.

"O-or!" Bill suddenly cut me off. "We could all hang out at the q-q-quarry tomorrow... if you all wanna... come." He told us.

"Good to know. Thanks." Beverly replied. Then she gave me a quick hug (which, admittedly, took me a little off guard), and walked off.

"See ya, Bev." I said. And then she was gone.

"Nice going bringing you Bowers in front of her." Stan snipped at Richie.

"Yeah, dude. You hear what she did?" Eddie asked.

"What'd she do?" Ben and I asked at the same time.

"Twin telepathy..." Richie mumbled to himself before continuing. "More like 'who'd she do.' From what I hear, the list is longer than my wang." Richie said as he grabbed the front of his pants. I suddenly felt a twinge if anger inside of me. Who does this kid think he is?

"That's not saying much." Stan replied.

"Hold on, do any of you actually personally know the girl?" I asked them. It was silent for a second.

"Well... Bill had her back in the third grade. They kissed in the school play! Reviews say you can't fake that sort of passion!" Richie cheered.

"That was a l-l-long time ago..." Bill said as he looked off to the side. I felt a bit jealous at this new found fact, but Bill didn't seem to really care about it.

"Right, right... so that's a no?" I said more of a statement than as a question. They didn't say anything. "So that means you don't know anything about her. In all honesty, boys, the rumors probably started over some little bitch baby who was mad she didn't let him bone her, then started some shit to embarrass her." They just stayed silent.

"Well... Pip pip and tally-ho, my good fellows! I do believe this chap requires our utmost attention!" Richie said in a bad British accent, clearly wanting to change the subject. "Get in there, Dr. K! C'mon, fix him up!" He said as he practically shoved Eddie to the ground.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up, Einstein, because I know what I'm doing, and I don't want you doing the British Guy right now." Eddie complained.

"Suck the wound! Get in there!" Richie continued. Eddie was about to put some rubbing alcohol on Ben's stomach before I stopped him.

"Wait, wait, wait. What are you doing?" I asked him.

"I'm disinfecting the wound." He replied, obviously annoyed at the interruption.

"No, first you stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage." I told him, unintentionally sounding bossy.

"How do you know all this?" Eddie asked, crouched down beside me.

"My old friend's mom's a nurse." I said.

"Hey, she may be better at this than you, Eds!" Richie said. I noticed the little boy get tense at the comment.

"No. Probably not. I've just been saving up random facts. I don't actually know how to do the majority of stuff I know," I told them. “Sorry for interrupting you, Eddie. I'm just worried about my brother. Please continue." I say, standing up and stepping out of the way.

"Thanks..." the shortest boy mumbled as he continued to work.

***

**Patrick's POV**

_I heard the distant yell of that bitch in the distance. I couldn't make it out until I heard her say one thing..._

_" **FUCKING WAR!** " It was distant, but I ran towards it. I was across the stream when I saw them just biking away. I knew I couldn't reach them in time, so I watched as the little lambs left as quickly as they could._

_Let them believe they're safe for now. Then we'll have our way with them. I went back to the car with Belch, and we all went home that day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild plot change there at the end. But don’t worry, it’s nothing too big. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please leave comments and Kudos.<3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y’all! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted a chapter, so this one’s a bit longer than usual. I hope ya like<3

The night after we returned from the Pharmacy, I had drawn Beverly.

I hadn’t really felt inspired to draw since May. I remember that I had gone to a park near a pond to draw in late May. It was cloudy, so there weren’t that many people around. I saw a young woman carrying her little boy, and I decided to draw her. She seemed to hold this sort of peace in her that made me feel at ease. That is... until the Bowers Gang came along. I remember Patrick had snatched my sketchbook right out of my hands as I had finished sketching it. He laughed. Showed it off to his little friends, and it got tossed into the pond. I hadn’t really drawn since. I knew they were bullies, but I didn’t know how bad they actually were...

When I finished drawing Beverly that night after the Pharmacy, I put a little note in the corner on the back.

I really wanted Beverly to have the drawing I made of her, so I had put it in my pocket.

“Where are you guys going?” Mom asked us as we were opening the front door. “It seems like I know nothing about you two these days.” She chuckled. I looked over to Ben, then back at mom.

“We’re meeting up with some new friends of ours.” I told her. She looked surprised for a second.

“You two have already made new friends?” She asked in disbelief. “I mean, that’s great!” She said, quickly changing her tone. We had lived here a little over 2 months, so I didn’t get her surprise.

“Sure.” I mumbled quietly.

“Alright. You two, please be careful. I know you know what’s going on in this town, so stick together.” She told us. We nodded, then quickly went outside before she could start another conversation.

“See ya later, mom!” I said before closing the door. Ben and I quickly grabbed our bikes before heading towards the Denbrough household. Bill had continuously offered himself to Ben to be our personal tour guide, and we accepted.

“Do you think we can trust these kids?” I asked him as we pedaled down Witcham Street. Ben looked lost in thought for a moment before replying.

“I mean, they’re being nice to us, and I don’t think Bill would invite us over just to be... I don’t know. Mean or something.” He replied.

“True, but what if he’s just inviting us over so he can kill us?” I joked. Ben playfully rolled his eyes at me.

“Shut up.” He smiled. We found Bill waiting outside with his bike on the driveway.

“H-h-hey, B-Ben. Hi, (Y/N).” He said to us with a smile on his face.

“Hi, Bill.” Ben said as a cute little smile danced onto his lips.

“Heya, Billy. How’s it hangin’?” I asked him as I stopped my bike. My brother chuckled at my choice of words.

“It’s... h-hangin’ good,” He replied. “A-are you guys r-r-ready to go?” He asked us. I looked over to Ben who nodded, then I did, too.

“Yeah. What about you?” I asked the stuttering boy. He nodded. We then began pedaling towards the quarry with Bill in the lead. Ben was pedaling closely next to him, and the two talked the whole way while I enjoyed the summer breeze. I gave a small, content smile up to the blue sky.

We arrived at the quarry where we found Stan, Eddie, and Richie striped down to their underwear. Or, in this case, their tighty whities.

“Hey, Big Bill.” Richie greeted.

“Hi, R-Richie.” Bill said to him.

“How ya doin’... Haystack?” The boy with the thick glasses asked Ben.

“Uhm, I’m good... you?” My brother replied.

“I’m great! What about you, Firecracker?” He asked... me. What kind of comparison——

“I’m great,” I replied. “Hi, Eddie. Stanley.” I waved to them, and they waved back.

“Hi, (Y/N).“ Eddie said to me.

“Is Beverly here, yet?” I asked them. They all shook their heads. I felt mildly disappointed, but tried not to show it. Great, my first girl... I mean, _female_ friend probably won’t even show up. I quickly kicked off my shoes on the large rocks, and hesitantly pulled off my shorts with my back facing the boys who were chattering. I decided to leave on my shirt, considering my brother was here. It was long enough that it went a little more than halfway down my butt. It was a nice, thin shirt, thankfully. An old band dad used to listen to. I then walked over to where the boys were talking.

“A-aren’t you gonna... ch-change?” Bill asked Ben who still had his clothes on. The two were sitting on the rocks. He didn’t say anything, and looked a bit embarrassed. I knew what he was thinking about, but didn’t say anything, so I decided to make conversation.

“Heya, Stan. Watchya reading?” I asked the boy who had a book in his hands. He showed me the cover of it. It was a guide on North American birds.

“You’re into birds?” I asked him. He quickly nodded. “That’s pretty coolio. What got you into them?” I asked him.

“My dad,” he replied boringly. “What about you? You have any hobbies?” He asked me way more politely than any teenage boy would normally ask. I thought about it for a moment.

“You know those big bottles where there’s tiny boats inside of them?” I asked. He thought about it for a second, then nodded. “Well I’ve been making those recently. I also like to sew, I guess.” I told him. He made a little face at the sewing part. We talked for a little bit before Richie piped up.

“Hey, let’s go up there!” He pointed up to a ledge. We all agreed, and began making our way up there. I noticed Ben had left his clothing on the rocks. Wow, this Bill kid must have worked some serious magic to get Ben out of those clothes. I knew how he felt about his weight, and he would never do that in a million years.

“Hey, Bill,” I tapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks.” I said quietly. He looked confused.

“F-For what?” He asked me. I smiled.

“Just... thanks.” And I slowed down to talk with Richie and Eddie. We quickly made our way up the small hill, and I accidentally panted. Christ, I’m out out of shape. I could have laughed.

“You alright there, Firecracker?” Richie asked. I let out a breathy chuckle.

“Yeah... just didn’t eat breakfast. Feeling a bit light-headed.” I lied. I couldn’t get up a tiny hill without running out of breath.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,(Y/N).” Richie teased. I playfully rolled my eyes at him. “Everyone knows that!” He smiled.

“Whatever.” I said, and slowly walked up the hill.

“Who’s up for a loogie contest?” Richie asked as we got to the top. I scrunched you my nose.

“Into the water that we’re about to be swimming in?” I asked him. He just gave me an evil little smile, and I stood behind the group as I watched them play. No way was I participating in this (even though I would 100% win).

First Richie went, then Stan, then Bill, then Ben, and then Eddie.

“Oh, my god. That was terrible, I win!” Richie cheered after Eddie spat his loogie (that didn’t even make it over the edge).

“You won?” Eddie questioned, clearly disagreeing with Richie’s self-proclaimed victory. “Did you see my loogie?” He asked Richie.

“Mine went the farthest! It’s by distance.” Richie argued.

“It’s mass! It’s always been mass!” Eddie argued back.

“What— what is— what is mass?” Richie asked, baffled.

“Who cares how far it goes; it matters how cool it looks, like if it’s green or white or juicy and fat.” Eddie replied quickly.

“Ew!” Richie said. I then approached the group, standing between Bill and Stan.

“Y’all are nasty.” I said peering into the water. The longer I stared at it, the deeper it looked, and the more I didn’t want to jump in.

“Did you just say _y’all_?” Richie giggled. I smiled back.

“Sure as hell did.” I replied in a Southern accent.

“Alright, who’s... who’s first?” Bill asked the group. No one replied.

“Ladies first?” Richie said as he looked back at me. Absolutely the _fuck_ not.

“Oh, ha ha. Very funny—“ I began bickering.

“I’ll go!” We heard a familiar voice say from behind. We all turned to be greeted with the lovely face of Beverly Marsh... my friend! She quickly tore off her dress, and began rushing forwards. “Sissies.” She taunted. I was about to step back before she swiftly took my hand, and pulled me over the edge with her. I shrieked in terror before I quickly my grabbed my glasses, securing them on my face. She let go of my hand as we fell.

“WHAT THE FUCK—“ I heard Richie yell before the water enclosed us like glue. I made my way to the top, panic sinking in as I searched for anything to hold on to. Beverly was pushing her hair out of her face when I attached myself to her. She looked at me with concern.

“You okay?” She asked. I was breathing heavily in fear.

 _It’s just water._ I told myself. I quickly let go of the girl. She smiled at me. “Alright.” She smiled, and I couldn’t help but blush. This is fine. This is normal. This is just how someone feels when making a new friend.

_But you don’t feel this way with the boys._

_Or with any boy, for that matter._

_**IT’S FINE.** _

“Why would you do that?” I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“Why not?” She asked. She then turned her attention back up to the boys. “Come on!” She called them. The first to jump in was Bill, then Ben, then Stan, and lastly was Eddie and Richie because he had to reassure Eddie that it was safe to jump (when he eventually just had to pull him off with him). We all splashed around for awhile before Beverly suggested to play Chicken Fight. I watched as Beverly played on top of Bill’s shoulders, and Richie on Ben’s. Richie had an advantage, and pushed the red headed girl off. I wheezed out a laugh, then quickly covered it up. I nearly had a heart attack when Beverly came up from behind me and wrapped her arms around my torso. I shrieked, but immediately calmed down.

“You’re gonna kill me one of these days.” I smiled. She then rested her chin on my shoulder, and took one of my hand’s in hers. My face burned like the summer sun, and my mind blanked. Even though I was dumb at the moment, I knew everyone was staring (except for Bill and Ben who were talking), and I just felt frozen. I felt her chest pressed against my back, and a part of me was now wishing I hadn’t worn the T-shirt.

_Shut up._ I told myself.

“Wanna play?” She asked, which shook me from my racing thoughts.

“What?” I asked, not really catching what she said.

“Chicken Fight. Do you want to play?” She asked. I nodded, and she untangled herself from me. “Bill and Ben versus me and (Y/N). What do you say?” She asked, no longer wanting to play with Richie because he “cheated” by pushing her chest. The two boys looked at each other, and I saw a clear blush creep along Bill’s cheeks. Clear as day! They looked back to us, and nodded. Beverly climbed my shoulders, and Bill got on Ben’s. I noticed my brother blush, too.

Aww! What cute friends!

And so it began. At first, Bill was trying to be careful, because touching a lady in this manner is... I don’t know, unethical or something? It wasn’t until Beverly called him a ‘pussy’ was when he really started playing.

“Oh, th-that’s it!” He warned her with a grin, and began pushing with all his might. I tried helping her a bit by pushing on Bill’s legs, and then she basically karate chopped him right between his chest, and he went tumbling down into the water.

“Victory!” She cheered. She quickly hopped down from my shoulders, and hugged me.

“Ow!” Bill playfully whined. Ben gently pat his shoulder.

“That’s what you get when messing with girls.” She told him. He chuckled at the comment, and we went along swimming in the deeper parts of the quarry. We all watched as Eddie tried to drown Richie for making a comment about his mom.

“Hanging out with you guys is like being at a zoo.” I said.

“W-what?” Bill asked, sounding completely baffled.

“Bill, shhh,” I cooed jokingly, and pointed to Eddie as he dunked Richie under the water. “Nature’s amazing...” I said in fake awe. I received a chuckle out of Ben and Bill, a wheeze of laughter from Beverly, and an actual smile from Stan! Well, it was more of a small smirk... but it’s still a victory.

The sun began to set, and we slowly made our way back over to the rocks where we originally started. We were all splashing around when I took a daring glance at Beverly. Maybe I was just staring too long, but she looked up at me, her beautiful cyan eyes staring into mine. Just for a second. I quickly looked away. 

“Ah, fuck!” Richie yelled. I looked over at him in alarm. “What was that?” He asked loudly.

“Something just touched my foot right here!” Stan said as I started swimming over to the boys. Then we dunked our heads under to see what it could have been. I held onto my glasses and opened my eyes under the murky water. Then I saw it. A cute little red-eared slider turtle!

“It’s a turtle.” Bill said as I came back up. Then Ben went under to see it. We then swam to the rocks we had left our things on, and began drying off. I walked behind some rocks and slipped off my T-shirt to wring it out. I did so until I knew it wasn’t gonna get any drier. Before putting it back on, I shook it out, and put the damp clothing back over my body. As I came out from behind the rocks, I heard the song _Bust a Move_ by Young MC playing on the radio that Beverly had brought. But that’s not what caught my attention. Beverly was lying on down on a towel, facing upwards. Her body completely exposed. Except for her undergarments... but still. I was staring... again.

_I’m probably just jealous of her body. Yeah! That’s it! It’s beautiful. God, why is she so—_

Then she moved her head towards us, and I quickly peeled my eyes away. The boys had been staring, too. Perverts! She then rolled on to her stomach, and, even though she was wearing sunglasses, I could tell she was staring at me. Her eyes burning into my soul.

“News flash, Ben!” Richie said in a bad accent, which made me draw my eyes away from the redhead. The boy was now searching through my brother’s bag, and being annoying. “School’s our for Summah!” He continued. I walked over to the boys, and sat on the other side of Bill.

“Oh, that’s not school stuff.” Ben said as Richie pulled something from the backpack.

“Who sent you this?” He asked as he pulled out what looked to be a postcard. My brother quickly snatched it from Richie’s hands.

“No one.” He said, clearly annoyed. Richie then pulled out a dark folder. I internally cringed, already knowing what it was.

Great. We’re just making friends, and my brother’s gonna creep them out.

“What’s with the history project?” Eddie asked.

“Well, when we first moved here, we didn’t really have anyone to hang out with.” Ben started as Richie passed the folder to Bill. “So we started spending time at the library.” He finished. I always went with him. I preferred looking at mythological things while Ben preferred real life.

“You guys go to the library? On purpose?” Richie asked. I rolled my eyes.

“The library’s actually pretty cool, Rich.” I replied calmly.

“Ooh, I wanna see.” Beverly said as she stood up, and sat next to me. I then put the folder in my lap for the 3 of us to see.

“What’s the Black Spot?” I heard Stan ask.

“The Black Spot was a nightclub that got burnt down years ago by that racist cult.” Eddie said.

“What?” Stanley asked, clearly confused.

“Don’t you watch _Geraldo_?” Eddie replied. I then looked over to Beverly, and she looked up at me.

“Your hair,” I said, admiring her. Her eyes, every freckle, everything was... _beautiful_. “It’s beautiful.” I whispered. I then quickly looked away as I cleared my throat. A grin spread across her face, and she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Thanks.” She said bashfully as she looked away. Bill looked through the folder as Richie peered over his shoulder to look at it. He then extended his hand out to Bill.

“Here. Pass it.” He said quickly. Bill then folded it back over, and handed it to the waiting boy.

“Why’s it all murders and missing kids?” Richie asked after briefly skimming through it with Stan looking over.

“Derry’s not like any town we’ve ever been in before,” Ben began darkly. I knew where he was going, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. Beverly must have noticed, and she placed her hand on mine. “They did a study once. It turns out, people die or disappear six times the national average.”

“You read that?” Beverly asked him. He nodded.

“And that’s just grown ups. Kids are worse... way, way worse.” He told us.

“Christ...” I mumbled under my breath. Sometimes my brother takes it too far. When he tells me these things, I just feel like I’m gonna shut down. It... scares me. I don’t want to go missing. I don’t want to be like one of those kids on the milk cartons we buy at the store. The kid that nobody remembered, but then it’s all suddenly “ _she was such an amazing person._ ” My mother said that once about a kid from school I did a project with. She didn’t really know him, or the fact that he had harassed me and Ben.

“I’ve got more stuff if you wanna see it.” He said. I noticed Eddie shaking his head ‘no’. I lightly smiled.

“Do you think mom would mind?” I asked my brother. Mom was at work, but she didn’t really like people in the house. He shrugged, and the majority ruled we would go. We packed up all our things, and got dressed. My dry skin was begging for lotion the whole ride there. It was nice out. It was later in the day, and the afternoon breeze felt just right on our cool bodies. I was talking to Beverly most of the ride, but did talk to Rich for a moment, and then I had to ask Ben if he had the spare key. Thankfully, he did. When we arrived, Ben quickly dropped his bike to the ground, and sprinted inside. I wondered why he was in such a hurry, but didn’t say anything. As I was about to walk in, I noticed a woman putting up poster. My heart sank, knowing what it was.

“Hey,” Beverly said, making me draw my attention away from the **MISSING** poster. “You alright?” She asked me.

“Yeah.” I whispered as I nodded my head. She glanced over at what I was staring at, and back at me. I couldn’t see who was on the poster, but it was still sad, knowing that someone’s baby was now gone. Forever. Beverly then took me by the hand, and led me inside of my own house. As we stepped inside, I directed Beverly to the first door on our right. Ben’s room. He was leaning against his closet as we entered, looking like he was trying to keep his cool. Spoiler Alert! It wasn’t working. Richie and Eddie were talking about what they heard was in the room. They sounded so excited, but their tones dropped when they saw my brother’s room.

“Woah, woah, woah... wow!” Richie said as he adjusted his glasses, looking up at all the papers.

“Cool, huh?” Ben asked, feeling proud of himself.

“No, no. Nothing cool...” Richie said sarcastically.

“Wait, this is cool. Right here, it’s... wait, no it’s not cool.” Eddie said, going along with Richie’s bull. Ben was watching Bill as the taller boy was looking at mini polaroids.

“What’s that?” Stanley asked as he pointed up to a piece of paper full of signatures. I was standing with Beverly as she looked at other papers on the wall.

“Uh, that? That’s the charter for Derry township.” Ben replied.

“Nerd alert.” Richie said. I rolled my eyes at the boy.

“No. Actually, it’s... it’s really interesting,” Ben replied quickly. “Derry started as a beaver trapping camp.” He continued.

“Still is! Am I right, boys?” Richie asked as he put his hand up for a high-five which was quickly rejected by Stan who just shook his head. I noticed Beverly glare at him, and I just lightly giggled beside her.

“What?” She asked, lightly smiling as my brother continued to talk in the background.

“Nothing.” I replied. She gently nudged my shoulder as she continued looking at the papers up on the wall.

“The entire camp?” Eddie asked Ben. I decided to look around the room myself. Even though we’ve lived here for a good few moths, I never really looked at Ben’s things. He didn’t really want me to. I wandered over to a shelf on the left side of the door, and looked at the junk items it held. There were mostly old books, and some other small items. I dug around, and after tossing many items to the floor, I found what appeared to be a small, round box. I opened it, and out sprung a dancing lady. I immediately knew what it was. It was a gift dad had given us the last time we saw him. I turned the small lever, and I sweet little tune rang out from it. I felt a little entranced, I suppose as I watched her spin in a slow circle.

“(Y/N).” Ben said, and I turned to see everyone was staring.

“What?” I asked, music box in hand.

“Would you stop playing the creepy music? It’s freaking me out.” Richie said. I rolled my eyes, and pocketed the music box. Ben clearly didn’t care about it, considering it was buried underneath a bunch of stuff. Everyone went back to their conversations, and then Beverly looked behind the door. I knew what was there, and I watched as she slowly closed the door. It creaked, and Ben slowly turned around. There was a huge NKOTB poster, and Beverly just smirked at him as he looked at her with pleading eyes. She opened the door, and joined my side, digging through Ben’s things.

“W-where was the well house?” Bill asked. Ben thought for a moment, but then shrugged.

“I don’t know. Somewhere in town, I guess. Why?” He replied. Bill looked mildly disappointed, and looked up at the missing kids posters.

“N-nothing...” Bill mumbled. Then I felt Bev tap my shoulder, and I looked at her.

“Can I check out your room?” She asked casually. I quickly nodded, and we left. I guess that meant everyone else had to come along too because Richie then piped up.

“Yeah. Let’s see it.” He said. My room was just down the hall from Ben’s with the bathroom in between. Mom’s room was upstairs. My room was painted a soft yellow colour with little paintings of ducks that I had done. Mom had insisted on buying a wallpaper, but I really just wanted to paint a bunch of random little ducks all over my walls. So I did. However, the walls were filled with posters and photographs. Mostly posters of bands, a few photos of Ben and I. Some of them had mom, but only one of them was of dad. There wasn’t much to marvel at in my room.

“Holy shit!” Richie cried happily. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“What?” I asked. He then walked over to the record player I had in the corner of my room.

“Sick turn table,” He said as he dug through my records. Beverly walked over to him and began doing the same. Eddie instinctually stuck by Richie as Stan looked at the books on my bookshelf. Bill was sticking by Ben at the doorway, so I just decided to sit on my bed. I then heard Richie scoff, and I turned my head in his direction. “You like _ABBA_?” He smirked as he held up the record. I jokingly rolled my eyes, and chucked a stuffed animal at him.

“You like Emily Dickinson?” Stan asked with the book of her poems in his hand. It was a big book, and I secretly questioned how he held it with one hand.

“What? They’re good poems...” I defended myself. The curly headed boy took another look at the large book, and slid it back into it’s place. I then leaned back on my pillow and looked up at the ceiling. I didn’t even notice my eyes start to close. I wasn’t tired. Just comfy.

If I had been listening to anyone, I would have heard Beverly whisper “This one” to Richie. Then music began playing. The song _The Chain_ by Fleetwood Mac began to play softly, and then I was pushed out of my bed. I hit the floor with a thud, and I hit my elbow.

“What the hell, Beverly...” I whined. I looked up to see her holding out her hand for me. I then took it, and Richie began swaying his body in a dancing way. Eddie joined him, and everyone slowly began a little dance, whether it was a small tap of the foot (Stan) or straight up getting into it (Richie).

“Wanna dance?” Beverly asked. I looked at her for a moment, then realized we were still holding hands. I gave her hand a small squeeze, and nodded. She took my free hand into hers, and we just kind of began moving out bodies. I looked around the room, but something felt off. It felt a little lonely, like someone was missing. But everyone I knew was here. Ben, Bill, Stan, Richie, Eddie, and Beverly. It still felt off despite the fact that I knew that everyone was there.

“Oh, Eddie Spaghetti, you almost dance as good as your mom!” Richie said. I internally face-palmed.

“Shut the fuck up.” Eddie rolled his eyes, not letting Richie’s jokes get the better of him. I noticed Bill and Ben were kind of dancing near each other, too. The only one out was Stan, as he was just skimming through the books, looking a little lonely. So, as much as I didn’t want to, I let go of Beverly’s hand. I then poked Stan on the shoulder, and he whipped his head around.

“Wanna join us?” I asked, a light grin on my face. He looked as though he wanted to turn down my offer, but then gently nodded his head. He joined Bev and I, the 3 of us in a kind of triangle shape, dancing to our hearts content. The song slowly came to an end, and so did the dancing (if you can call it that).

Beverly smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back. I took out the record before it could play another song, and slid it back into it’s paper confinement.

“Well that was... fun.” I said quietly. Everyone silently agreed.

“Shit.” Beverly mumbled. I looked back to see her looking at my alarm clock.

“What wrong?” I asked.

“It’s just getting a bit late,” She said. I glanced over at my clock to see that it read 5:08pm. It felt way earlier. “I’ve gotta get going.” She said quickly.

“Oh...” I said, sounding way more disappointed than I meant to. “Uh, lemme show you out?” I asked. She then nodded, and I walked her out to the hallway.

“Is that the bathroom?” She asked me, pointing to the dark room between mine and Ben’s. I nodded. “I’ll be right back.” She said quietly as she placed her backpack outside the door, and went inside. I looked down the hall to make sure no one would pop up out of no where, and took the drawing out of my pocket. It was all folded and a bit crumpled now, but I bent down and placed the drawing into her bag. Then I heard the door unlocking, and I quickly stood back up.

“You good?” I asked. She nodded.

“Yeah,” she replied, and I walked with her to the porch. “Sorry I couldn’t stay longer. I wish I could.” She said, sounding sincere. I did feel pretty upset with her leaving, but hoped I would see her again. Sometimes it just felt like someone would walk off, and you’d never see them again.

“It’s alright. I get it with the whole... curfew thing,” I said. “We should... hang out again sometime.” I suggested.

“Yeah.” She smiled. She leaned in to hug me, and I hugged back. She smelt faintly of cigarettes and wild flowers. The longer I held onto her, the more I didn’t want to let her go. And I could tell she felt the same way. I felt it in my bones. After about 30 seconds of hugging, I knew it was time to let her go, so I slowly pulled away.

“I’ll see you, (Y/N).” Beverly said. I nodded.

“Bye.” I said, and then she walked away.

***

Beverly sat on her bed as she dug through her backpack to grab a book. As she grabbed it, she noticed a small piece of paper fall from the bag. The redhead looked at it for a moment before leaning down and picking it up.She quickly unfolded it, and her eyes widened in realization. She quickly made her way to her bathroom, and locked the door behind her. She sat down in her bathtub, and looked back at the paper. It was a drawing of her. She carefully traced the pencil marks with her fingers, then wondered who had drawn it. She looked on the back for a possible answer, but only saw some words messily scrawled out.

“ _la douleur exquise: the heart-wrenching pain of wanting the affection of someone who is unattainable._ ”

Beverly read out loud. She looked at those words for a moment, and then a goofy little grin danced across her features. She held that paper close to her heart.

“ _Beverly_.” A voice came from her sink drain.

***

That night, after everyone left, I decided to take a bath. I felt like I needed to get the questionable quarry water off of me, and (quite literally) out of my hair. I stripped off my clothing, and stepped into the warm bath water. I grabbed a washcloth, and began lathering it with my body wash. I scrubbed at my body until I felt clean, then reached for my shampoo. I quickly washed it, gently scrubbing at my scalp. I let the shampoo sit for a little while before dunking my head under the water, leaving just my nose out of it. I sat with my head under the water for a few moments until I felt my head slipping more from exhaustion. For some reason, the slip of my head falling under caused my tired self to freak out, and open my eyes under the water. When I opened them, I expected to see the bubbly water of my bathtub...

But when I opened them, I saw murky, green water. Much like a lake or pond. With much confusion and fear, I tried desperately to bring my body upwards, but I couldn’t move. I was panicking, and couldn’t breath. That’s when I saw It.

Just in the distance of the murky water, something was floating towards me. The gentle waves pulling It towards me. As It got closer, I began to realizes what It was. It was a tall ‘man’ dressed as a clown. The clown was wearing a disgusting suit with cuffs and gloves and a frilly ruff around It’s neck.

I could not see It’s face. You see, It’s back was facing me. To this day, I still wish I hadn’t. It still haunts me.

Now the way I describe It may not seem bad, however, it is the worst thing I have ever seen.

It was now only about 3 feet away from me, and the body turned to face me. My face went white with fear.

Covering It’s face was white paint, both eyebrows with a red line going straight down and stopping at It’s lips. It’s nose was painted red.

It’s ridiculous face paint was not what got to me. It was It’s cold, dead eyes. They were white, like when a person is dead for so long that their eyes fog over. It’s face was being eaten away by squirming bugs sticking out of It’s rotting flesh. Those eyes were at first looking down, but they shot up to look at mine.It then shrieked this horrible, grotesque sound and lunged at me. I screamed, and forced my body upward with all of my might. I felt myself get freed from the cold prison of the water, and gasped for air. I clutched the side of the bathtub, and violently shook as I simultaneously sobbed and gasped for air. There was a sudden knock at the door, and I jumped, which sent me into a coughing fit.

“H... Hello?” I coughed out.

“ _(Y/N), are you okay_?” I heard Ben ask from the other side of the door. My coughing soon stopped after that, and I didn’t really know how to reply to that. “(Y/N)?” He called. I realized how long I probably had stayed silent.

“Y-yeah. I’m okay... I just inhaled some water.” I lied. I heard my brother chuckle form the other side of the door.

“ _Okay, well just be careful._ ” He told me.

“I will.” I said, still shaken up. I then heard receding footsteps. I sighed, rinsed myself off, and quickly got out. I wrapped my towel around myself, and placed my glasses on my face before stepping out into the hallway and into my room. I put on my undergarments, and then a baggy T-shirt with some shorts. I put some moisturizer on my hands and face, then walked to Ben’s room. It was only about 8:30, but after almost drowning in my bathtub, I was kind of sort of exhausted. My brain felt like it was gonna explode, and my chest just felt so heavy. I felt really lonely and scared and sad, so I went to the one person I could always rely on.

“Hey, Ben?” I said, knocking on his open door. He was sitting at his desk while reading a book, and looked up at me. “Can I chill in here with you?” I asked him. He looked at me strangely for a second.

“Yeah, sure.” He replied skeptically. I smiled tiredly at him.

“Okay, cool.” I said as I walked over to his bed. He turned back to look at me from his desk.

“You sure you’re okay, (Y/N)?” He asked. I just kind of blank stared at him, unsure of how to answer that. “(Y/N)?” He said, snapping me out of my tired trance.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. I’m great.” I smiled.

“You’re really bad at lying. Especially when you’re tired.” He told me. I rolled my eyes, and laid down on his bed. Without really trying to, I immediately fell asleep.

I was rudely woken up by Ben about an hour later, kicking me out of his bed. I didn’t really remember it the next day, being too tired, but I fell back asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this chapter. I also hope you don’t mind that I gave the reader glasses. Anywho, that’s all for now, folks!


	4. Chapter 4

Almost drowning really makes you tired. Especially when your throat and chest are burning. After the bathtub incident, I pretty much just crashed, and wanted to sleep for the next forever.

Which is why it was excruciatingly unpleasant to get woken up the next morning to the telephone ringing in the living room. I groaned at the sound (which caused a short coughing fit), and put my pillow over my head. To my dismay, I could still hear the ringing. After a few moments, it stopped. But then it rang again. Knowing no one would answer it, I begrudgingly got out of bed, and stomped into the living room.

"Hello?" I asked in a groggy voice, coughing into my hand.

" _(Y/N)? Is that you?_ " I heard Beverly ask from the other end. She sounded like she was in panic which made my need for sleep suddenly disappear.

"Yeah. Bev, are you alright?" I asked.

" _Y-yeah. Could you... could you please just come over as soon as possible? And bring the others._ " She told me. I was so confused right now.

"Yeah, but did something happen? Are you in any sort of danger?" I asked, getting more worried by the second.

" _No... Yes. I don't know. Just round everyone up as soon as you can please?_ " She asked, panic still laced in her voice.

"Yeah. We'll be there as soon as possible." I told her. I heard her sigh a bit.

" _Okay. Thank you. Bye, (Y/N)._ " She said, and the line disconnected. I put the phone back down in it's holder, and went back to my room. I quickly changed into my usual wear, and then went to brush my hair and teeth. After I felt ready, I walked into Ben's room. I looked at his sleeping figure. He looked so at peace...

Then I violently shook him awake. He suddenly sat up, making an unpleasant groan.

"Why do you hate me, (Y/N)?" He grumbled. I just smiled.

"Sorry to disturb your slumber, your Highness, but Beverly called. She needs our help." I replied calmly, clearing my throat to keep from coughing.

"What could she need this early?" He asked, clearly annoyed. I glanced over at his alarm clock, and realized it was 10:00am. Early for summer vacation, I suppose.

"I'm not sure, but she sounded upset. She said to get everyone. Speaking of which, I should probably go call them. Get up." I said before exiting the room, and heading back to the family room. I grabbed the phone book from a cabinet, and dialed up the Uris house.

" _Uris House. Stanley speaking._ "

***

As we pedaled to Beverly's place, Eddie bickered the whole time. It was unpleasant, and the growing irritation in my chest didn't help the burning. My chest still hurt from last night, inhaling too much water.

"...No, we have to take the alleyways." Stan told him.

"The alley takes way too long!" Eddie exclaimed.

"No, the alley is much faster." Stan disagreed.

"The alley is more dangerous and it's disgusting." Eddie retorted. The more he talked, the closer I was getting to my breaking point. My exhaustion shortening my temper.

"How is it more dangerous?" Stan asked, irritated.

"It smells like piss and it's gross!" Eddie yelled. I let out a loud, angry groan.

"Eddie! Stop complaining about the alley ways! The side streets smell the same, so just be quiet already!" I shouted over the two, which immediately sent me into a coughing fit. My throat hurt so much right now. My worry about Beverly's safety was making my mood worse, too. Ben was shocked at my sudden outburst, to say the least, but Eddie seemed unfazed by it.

"Okay, okay. Can you just tell me what she said already?" He asked, immediately dropping the subject.

"I told you already, she just said that we needed to come over as soon as possible." I told him, my anger quickly seeping away. We then reached a sort of clearing that lead to stairways. I stopped my bike when I saw Beverly running down a flight of steps. She seemed a bit out of breath as she ran to us.

"You made it. I..." She began, taking a breath. "I need to show you something." She told us.

"What is it?" Ben asked.

"More than what we saw at the quarry?" Richie asked. I was blessed with being able to stand next to him, so I swiftly whacked him in the arm.

"Shut up! Just shut up, Richie!" Eddie snipped.

"My dad will kill me if he finds out... I had _boys_ in the apartment." Beverly spat out the word 'boys' as if it was poison. Being my stupid self, I approached her with an annoying grin on my face.

"Looks like I'm off the hook, suckers." I said jokingly.

"W-we'll leave a lookout," Bill said, ignoring my comment. "Richie, s-stay here." Bill instructed as he plopped his bike down on the ground, the others following his movements.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah!" Richie said, clearly not liking the plan as Beverly lead us up the stairs. "What if her dad comes back?" Richie asked.

"Do what you always do: start talking." Stan replied with his signature annoyed tone.

"It is a gift..." Richie pouted.

"Not so much, Trashmouth!" I called down to him. He looked offended by the comment, and I felt bad. "But we still love you!" I said. I saw his face light up, and went inside Beverly's apartment before he could make a crude joke.

I didn't really know what I was expecting when I walked into Beverly's apartment. It smelled heavily of some sort of perfume, and faintly of cigarettes. But something else seemed to cover that all up. It smelled like rust.

No. I knew this smell all too well. A smell that I had to live with once a month.

Blood. I nearly gagged. Beverly lead us slowly down a hallway.

"In there." She said gravely as she stopped at a turn. We all stared at the closed door which was emitting a red glow from between the cracks.

"What is it?" Stanley asked, concern slipping through his words.

"You'll see." Beverly replied. I looked at the terrified girl who was still staring at the bathroom door. Without really thinking, I took her hand in mine. She let out a little gasp of shock, and looked down at our hands. She then looked up at me, smiled, and entwined our fingers. Bill began approaching the door, so we followed.

" _Areyouseriouslytakingustoyourbathroom_?" Eddie asked at a rapid pace. " _Ijustwantyoutoknowthat89%ofworstaccidentsathomearecausedinbathroomsandit'swherethebacteriaandfungiareandit'snotareallysanitaryplace..._ " he kept muttering until Bill slowly opened the door. Red light beamed on us, and the smell of blood made me nauseous. Eddie shuddered at the sight, and my hands shook.

"I knew it!" Eddie gagged.

"You see it?" Beverly questioned us. I quickly nodded.

"Yes." Eddie said without hesitation.

"What happened in here?" Ben and I asked in unison. If Richie were here I knew he'd say 'twin telepathy.' He did whenever Ben and I say something at the same time.

"My dad couldn't see it... I thought I might be crazy." She said, her voice sounding like it was going to break.

"You're not crazy, Bev." I told her, trying to comfort her.

"If you're crazy..." Ben began, taking in the sight. "Then we're all crazy." He finished.

"We c-can't leave it like this." Bill said.

"Yeah. Not unless you wanna piss on a blood-covered toilet seat for forever." I said, trying to lighten the mood. She snickered at it, and that's all I needed.

"Sometimes I think you're as bad as Richie." Stan said.

"Hey, at least I don't joke about fucking Eddie's mom. I have _some_ boundaries." I shrugged. I saw Eddie scowl at the mention of his mother while Stan just sighed. We quickly began cleaning. Ben and I were scrubbing at the used-to-be cream coloured walls while Beverly was cleaning the mirror. Bill and Eddie were cleaning the floor while Stan was at the window. I was walking out of the room to get some more cleaning supplies when I heard Eddie gagging and wheezing. I rolled my eyes at the dramatic boy. I then took off one of my blood-covered glove, and squeezed Eddie's inhaler which was hanging out of his mouth.

"Thanks." He said, muffled, as I put the glove back on.

"No problem," I said, then went to get some more supplies. I was trying to find some sort of air freshener, but Beverly didn't seem to have any. I walked back into the bathroom. "I'll be right back." I said to them.

"Where are you going?" Beverly asked.

"Just to get some Lysol or something. I don't think you want this place smelling like bleach and blood, right?" I asked. She nodded, and I chucked my gloves into a trash bin. I was greeted with hot air as I opened the front door. I quickly walked down the steps, and saw Richie there, sitting on the grass.

"Took you guys long enough!" He said when he saw me. "Wait, where is everyone?" He asked, looking around.

"Still up there. I'm just going to pick something up." I told him. He groaned.

"What's even going on in there? She show you her tits?" He joked, smiling at himself. I nearly smacked him.

"Richie, you know those rumours are fake, right?" I asked. He then looked down at his feet.

"I know. I'm just kidding around. But seriously, what happened?" He questioned. I debated on what to tell him.

"Look, I promise we'll tell you everything when we're done. Okay?" I said to him. He groaned in annoyance, but nodded. I then ran down to the Pharmacy. I quickly picked up the first can of Lysol I saw. I paid, and ran back to the apartment. By the time I got back, everyone was almost done. Beverly was scrubbing at the sink, and Ben was cleaning the little nooks and crannies.

"I'm back." I said. Beverly looked up from her cleaning and smiled.

"What took you so long?" She asked.

"Richie." I replied simply. She immediately understood. About 15 minutes later, everything was clean. Though there were still a few trash bags we hadn't taken out yet. We looked at the work of art.

"Good as new." Ben said.

"Ah, not quite," I said, grabbing the sack of scents. "Stand back." I said as I entered the room. I quickly took off the plastic seal of the container, covered my eyes with my arm, and began spraying the left side of the room. I coughed a bit, and my throat began burning again, but I ignored it. By the time everyone had convinced me to stop spraying the bottle, it was nearly halfway gone. I opened up the window to let it air out, and quickly got out of the room. I coughed so hard, my head began throbbing. I had fallen to the floor, and was violently shaking, my body not letting me stop the coughing. Eddie thought I was gonna die. I didn't, unfortunately...

"Jesus. Are you alright?" Beverly asked when she was positive I was done. I nodded as she helped me stand up. "Do you need any water?" She asked me. I did _want_ some, but decided I didn't _need_ it. So I shook my head. After that, we began taking the bags out to the trash. As Beverly and Bill were rinsing the tub, I took a peep into Beverly's room. I looked around for a second when I saw the drawing lying on her bed. I smiled.

She had seen it. I spun back around to take out the trash when I saw Bill and Bev giggling away. My smile quickly faded, and I just walked down the hallway.

_How could she like someone like me?_

***

"It's not true, you know... what they say about me?" Beverly told Bill. He didn't reply. Didn't know how to reply. "I was only ever kissed by one guy." She stated.

Beverly had come to the conclusion that Bill had to have been the one who drew that for her. He was the only artistic one in the group...

That she knew of.

"It was a long time ago... but it was a nice kiss, though." She said, smiling at Bill. He just kind of stood there awkwardly. The tall boy always got nervous around Beverly. It wasn't as bad as it used to be when he was a little boy, but being around her made it hard for him to speak. He didn't know anymore.

" _La douleur exquise._ " She said quietly. She didn't make eye contact with him as she said it, then glanced over to him when he didn't reply.

"W-w-was that in the play?" He questioned. He felt a bit silly asking it. Beverly looked at him like he had just disrespected her life's work.

"No, the drawing." She replied.

"W-which d-d-drawing?" He asked, quite confused. Beverly stared at him for a moment.

How could it not be him?

"Oh... I was just..." She began. She felt so stupid now. "Never mind, then." she said, trying to change the subject. Bill looked down at his feet. Was she expecting something from him? He didn't know.

"J-just so you know, I... I never believed any of the rumours," He began, trying to lighten the situation. "N-n-none of the L-Losers do. Especially (Y/N). Sh-sh-she's always sticking up for you if it's e-ever brought up... We like hangin' with you." He smiled at her. She smiled back, mostly out of knowing that (Y/N) stuck up for her. 

"Thanks." She replied.

"You shouldn't thank us too much. Hanging out with us makes you a Loser, too." Bill told her. Beverly chuckled at his words.

"I can take that." She said, looking out the window.

***

"No, I love being tour personal doorman. Really!" Richie said as he rode his bike in circles around us. "Could you idiots have taken any longer?"

"Alright. Shut up, Richie." Eddie snipped.

"Yeah. Shut up, Richie." Stan agreed with the hypochondriac.

"Oh, okay. Trash the Trashmouth, I get it... Hey, I wasn't the one scrubbing the bathroom floor and imagining that her sink went all Eddie's-mom's-vagina-on-Halloween." Richie kept going.

"I don't think she imagined it." I said, too quiet for anyone to hear.

"She didn't imagine it," Bill spoke up. We all slowly came to a stop at his words. "I s-s-s-saw something, too." He said. As I listened, I stared at the ground.

"You saw blood, too?" Stanley asked.

"No... I saw... G-G-Georgie." I looked up from the spot I had been staring at as Bill talked. "It seemed so real. I mean, it seemed like there was this..." Bill trailed off.

"The clown," Eddie spoke up as he stared at the ground. We all looked back at him. "Yeah. I saw him, too." He said softly. Without words, we all quietly agreed.

We all saw the same clown.

"Wait, can only virgins see this stuff? Is this why I'm not seeing this shit?" Richie spoke.

We all then looked up to see a blue Trans Am.

"Oh, shit. That's Belch Huggins car," Eddie said. "We should— we should probably get out of here." He said, sounding panicked. Then again, who wouldn't be?

"Wait, isn't that th-the home schooled kids bike?" Bill questioned.

"Yeah, that's Mike's." Eddie replied.

"We have to help him." Beverly said, looking at all of us expectantly.

"We should?" Richie asked.

"Of course we do. C'mon, Trashmouth. You're not scared by a couple of bullies, now are you?" I asked him as I dropped my bike to the ground and followed Beverly. As we got down the trail to the stream, I saw Belch kick Mike in the face, sending him to the ground. Henry climbed on top of him, and growled in his face like an animal. I watched as Henry picked up a rock and was about to hit Mike over the head with it.

_What can I do? What can I do?!_ I panicked, frozen in place.

Then I saw a rock fly over the water, and hit Henry Bowers right on the head, sending him tumbling down. I looked next to me, seeing Beverly give a satisfied look.

"Nice throw." Stan complimented the redhead.

"Thanks." She replied as Mike crawled across the water towards us. I grabbed a large rock in my hand, and helped Mike up with my free one.

"You Losers are trying too hard... she'll do you," Henry said, clearly referring to Beverly. "You just gotta ask nicely... like I did." Henry continued as he rubbed at his crotch. His goons laughed with him. I could see the look of hurt and disgust on Beverly's face. What was this guys problem?

"You should be so lucky, Bowers." And with that, I chucked the rock at the bully with all my might. Even though I've got shit aim, it hit Henry right on the head.

"What the fuck?" He said as he reeled back.

Everyone picked up a stone, and began throwing it in the Gangs direction.

" _ROCK WAR!!!_ " Richie screamed before getting hit with a rock.

And that's how the Apocalyptic Rock War of 1989 began. Rocks were flying, profanities were being screamed, and everyone left with a bruise or two. Eddie, who I honestly believed had no sense of adventure in him, got the closest to the older 3 boys. Screaming and throwing anything he could pick up.

"Fuck you, bitch!!" Belch yelled at Beverly before she hit his stupid hat with a rock.

It only lasted a moment. But with that, Victor and Belch retreated, leaving their precious leader a cowering mess on the rock bed.

We stared at him. Stan and Eddie quickly helped Mike away from the psychopath before he could get back up and attack. Bill and Ben left right after them.

I just stared at him.

I pitied him.

He looked like a frail kitten. I hated him. Hate is an understatement, but nonetheless, he was still human.

For now.

"Let's go." Beverly gently said, taking my hand. I nodded, and she led me away.

"C'mon, Richie." I said as he glared at the bully.

" _GO BLOW YOUR DAD, YOU MULLET-WEARING ASSHOLE!_ " Richie yelled before giving Henry 'the bird.' I chuckled at him, and we walked away.

"Thanks, guys... but you shouldn't have done that," Mike said as we walked through a field. "They'll be after you guys, too, now." Eddie turned back to look at him.

"Oh, no, no, no, no. Bowers? He's always after us." Eddie quickly replied as he looked back at the dark skinned boy.

"I guess that's one th-th-thing we all have in common." Bill said.

"Yeah, Homeschool. Welcome to the Losers' Club!" Richie continued.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked Mike since he was walking in front of front of me. I noticed the scrapes and small cuts on his hands. I quickly grabbed them, and examined them to see if there was any sort of gunk in them as I stopped us in our tracks. The others walked past us.

"Uh, yeah. It's not a big deal..." He replied a bit bashfully.

"Since when are you all Mother Goose?" Richie asked as he came up behind me.

"The term is Mother Hen, and since forever." I replied as I let go of Mike's hand. Thankfully, I didn't see any crud like tiny rocks or sand.

"Whatever. Let's just go or we'll miss the fair." Richie said as he gave me a light shove to get me walking. We made our way down to where the fair was happening, and were walking into an alleyway. Eddie suddenly stopped us.

"Wait here. I'm gonna go get some ice cream." He said, and started walking towards the ice cream stand.

"Get me some, too, Eds!" Richie called. I sighed and leaned against the wall of the alley. Richie then gasped and ran into the parade. I should have said something when he grabbed an instrument from a member of the band, but just sighed again. Looking at the opposite side of the alley, I noticed a new **MISSING** poster.

"Guys, check it out," I said as I approached it. " _Eddie Corcoran..._ " I said just under my breath as I traced the words. Bill quickly appeared by my side, staring at the poster.

"They say they found part of his hand all chewed up near the standpipe..." Stan said with a shaky voice.

"He asked to borrow a pencil once." Ben said darkly. Bill quickly lifted up the paper to find Betty Ripsom's poster just underneath it.

"It's like she's been f-forgotten because Corcoran's missing." He said as he turned back to look at all of us. The sound of an out of tune trumpet shook me from my thoughts, and I turned my head to see Richie yanking on some poor band geeks instrument.

"Is it ever gonna end?" Stan asked which brought my attention back to the conversation.

"What the fuck dude!" I heard Richie cry as the band member took back his instrument.

"What are you guys talking about?" Eddie asked as he appeared at the entrance of the alley with two vanilla ice cream cones.

"What they always talk about." Richie replied, sounding annoyed.

"I actually think it will end," Ben said, replying to Stan's question. "For a little while at least."

"Please elaborate?" I asked of my brother after a beat of silence.

"Yeah. What do you mean?" Beverly asked him.

"So I was going over all my Derry research, and I charted all the big events." Ben said.

"Which were..?" I asked, a small cough slipping from my mouth.

"Let me finish," He said calmly, as he was use to my impatience. "There was the Ironworks Explosion in 1908, the Bradley Gang in '35, and the Blackspot in '62. And now kids being..." Ben paused as he saw Bill's look of pain. "I realized this stuff seems to happen... every—."

"27 years." Him and Bill said in unison.

"Let's go find a place to chill and talk about this." I said. We all agreed, and found a bench near the stage with performers.

"Okay, so lemme get this straight," Eddie began. "It comes out from wherever to eat kids for, like, a year? And then what? It just goes into hibernation?" The small boy questioned.

"Maybe it's like... what do you call it? Cicadas. You know? The bugs that come out once every 17 years." Stanley said as he was perched on top of the bench like a cat.

"My grandfather thinks this town is cursed..." Mike quickly jumped in. "He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing. An evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry."

"But it can't be one thing." Stan argued.

"Why not?" I quickly asked, not agreeing with his logic.

"Because we all saw something different." He replied. I made a face of skepticism.

"Maybe... Or maybe it knows what scares us most and that's what we see." Mike said.

"I saw a leper... It was like a walking infection." Eddie quickly joined in.

"But you didn't." Stanley said.

"What?" I replied in a dead tone.

"It isn't real. None of this is," Stanley replied, quickly getting defensive. "Not Eddie's leper... or Bill seeing Georgie... or the woman I keep seeing." He trailed off.

"She hot?" Richie asked, a smile spreading across his face. I looked at him him with that are you serious? look a parent would give.

"No, Richie! She's not hot! Her face is all... messed up..." Stan said, recounting the events from a few days ago. "None of this makes any sense. They're all like bad dreams." He said with that same shaky voice. I saw the look of fear on Beverly's face, and gently took her hand in mine. I seemed to have startled her from her thoughts, and smiled at me.

"I don't think so. I know the difference between a bad dream and real life, okay?" Mike quickly said.

"Yeah. I don't think I imagined almost drowning." I said quickly looking up to meet Stan's eyes.

"Wait, is that why you've been coughing all day and why you were so... shaken last night?" Ben asked me. I looked at him and quickly nodded.

"Jesus..." I heard Richie say under his breath.

"You could have just inhaled quarry water." Stan said, stubbornly. I was about to argue back before Eddie spoke up.

"Wait, Mike. You saw something, too?" Eddie quickly asked.

"Yes... You guys know that burned down house on Harris Avenue?" He began. My blood ran cold at the question, but I gently nodded my head. "Well, I was inside when it burned down. Before I was rescued, my mom and dad were trapped in the next room over from me. They were pushing... and pounding on the door... trynna get to me. But it was too hot. When the firemen finally found them, the skin on their hands had melted down to the bone," He said the last part with his voice shaking. He sounded like he was about to break down crying. I put my hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him. He took a deep breath in before finishing what he had to say. "We're all afraid of something."

"Got that right." Richie said, turning to face the stage.

"Alright, Rich. What are your afraid of?" Eddie asked. The boy slowly turned back around to face us, and adjusted his glasses before finally responding.

" _Clowns_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Sorry for not posting for a while, I’ve been busy with school work and such. Love ya!


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